HP Printer Setup under Elementary OS

I bought an HP Photosmart 6520 printer as it is known to be well supported under Linux (http://www.matthartley.com/buying-a-printer-for-ubuntu/). Unfortunately the standard HPLip tool in the Elementary OS Software Center (actually the Ubuntu SC) has no support for this printer yet.

But you can directly download the latest hplip from http://sourceforge.net/projects/hplip/ and simply run it in a terminal.

sh ~/Downloads/hplip-3.13.10.run 

With Ubuntu 13.04 this works flawless, but under Elementary OS it complained about some missing dependencies. By executing the following steps I could get the latest hplip tool running:

1. set a temporary root password as it insisted on not using the sudo command:

   sudo passwd 
   

2. install required dependencies:

   sudo apt-get install gcc build-essential python-dev libcupsys2-dev libusb-1.0.0 libtool libcupsimage2-dev  libsane-dev libsnmp-dev 
   

Now the hplip script should work fine (I selected "Ubuntu" and "13.04"):

sh ~/Downloads/hplip-3.13.10.run 

You can install your HP printer with a USB connection:

hp-setup 

or add a networked printer with (modify the command with the ip-adres of your printer):

hp-setup 192.168.0.212 

My HP printer is now fully operational, including the integrated scanner.

Don't forget to remove the root password afterwards:

sudo passwd -l root 

Ubuntu 64 bit: Accessing the Smartcard within Java Applets

I had some trouble to get the smartcard api working within Java Applets in Ubuntu 13.04 using the Firefox browser.

After some experimentation, I managed to fix this issue. The fix is in 3 parts:

1. make sure all pcscd libraries are installed: 

   sudo apt-get install pcscd pcsc-tools libpcsclite1 libccid
   

2. install the Oracle JDK (I couldn't get the smartcard API under the default OpenJDK to work):
   
   • download and install the latest JDK: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html
   • Install the firefox plugin: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/manual-plugin-install-linux-136395.html
     

     mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins
     cd ~/.mozilla/plugins
     ln -s ~/jdk1.7.0_40/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
     

     (modify the path depending on where you installed the JDK)
3. the Oracle JDK uses an incorrect path for accessing the pcsclite library. Fix it with a symlink:
   

   sudo mkdir /usr/lib64
   sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpcsclite.so.1 /usr/lib64/libpcsclite.so
   

If you now restart Firefox, the smartcard API for Java Applets should work.

source: https://lists.launchpad.net/openjdk/msg07864.html

USB-charging the Nexus 4 on Windows 7

There is a bug on Windows 7 that prevents the Nexus 4 to charge when it's connected to a USB port. The problem seems to be related to the latest Nexus 4 update in combination with the Windows USB driver. Luckily there is a workaround to this problem: simply disable MTP mounting on the Nexus 4:

• Go to Settings > Storage > Menu > USB Computer Connection  
• Unclick Media Device (MTP) 

The Nexus 4 should now charge when plugged into a Windows 7 computer.

Source: Google Groups Post

Enable MTP support on Elementary OS

I'm currently running Elemantary OS on a Medion E1210 (Akoya) netbook as ubuntu became too heavy. The netbook has been upgraded with a 128GB SSD from Kingston and is operating very smooth considering the limited cpu. One small problem remains: my Nexus 4 only mounts as a "Media Transfer Protocol' device (MTP) instead of the classical USB Mass Storage device. 

Luckily, it's very easy to add MTP support to Elementary OS by executing the following commands in a shell :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:langdalepl/gvfs-mtp 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get upgrade 

After reboot, the nexus 4 was mounted properly.

source: http://jaisejames.wordpress.com/tag/elementary-os/